Through-bolting the Hull Deck Joint

Here we see the underside of the hull-deck joint of an newer Alberg 30. This photo happens to be the underside of the taffrail, inside the lazarette. The arrows point to the actual hull deck joint, which is glassed together with a strip of glass mat betwen the hull and deck. The joint is also riveted (highlighted by circles) to hold it tight while the resin cured.

In some places, this strip of glass mat dripped down from the edge of the hull flange. I ground these places clean to make a friendlier place to work for human skin.

As you can see, I've drilled out the rivet and also counter-sunk for a flat-head bolt.

I then through-bolted with 10-24 machine screws. It's not shown here, but I bedded the machine screws in 3M 5200 caulk before installing the washers and nuts. To prevent the nuts from vibrating loose, I used Lock-Tite on the threads. Nyl-Lock nuts would be another good approach.